This application is the national phase under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7 371 of PCT International Application No. PCT/SE99/01660 which has an International filing date of Sep. 23, 1999, which designated the United States of America and was published in English.
The present invention relates to isotope production and more specifically to a unique design of an Integrated Radiation Shield for a PET isotope production system.
A PET (Positron Emission Tomography) isotope production system is complex with several subsystems and functions. Such a system produces radioactive tracers, which means that the system has to be in harmony with a number of regulations for such activities, particularly regarding radiation hazards. The customer (for instance a hospital working together with several contractors during set up and commissioning period) has to provide a facility fulfilling all requirements for the PET isotope production system such as necessary space with adequate floor load capacity (heavy equipment), mains power, primary cooling water, gas supply, ventilation, compressed air, drains, etc. The customer also has to set up the necessary laboratory capacity for the preparation of the radioactive tracers and to train the staff for the coming activities and so forth.
Consequently, setting up a new facility for production of PET isotope tracers is a multi-task undertaking which easily may lead to overspent budgets and loss of time for preparation and realisation of the project, which always will have an undesirable impact on such a project both for customers and vendors.
Consequently there is a need for a product with as few main components as possible, i.e. a high degree of system integration is a good contribution in making the planning of the facility easier. The customer then quickly gets a good overview of the delivered system and the number of interactions between the PET isotope production systems and the customer""s own facility may be limited. Another bonus with such a philosophy is that the product installation will be almost identical from customer to customer making product documentation, upgrading, spare part handling and other after sales activities more effective, which will be beneficial for all parties.
The present invention presents an apparatus and a system forming a basic integrated radiation shield function for a PET isotope production cyclotron (referred to as the xe2x80x9cMINItracexe2x80x9d device) to create a safe radiation environment. The apparatus and the system also combine several subsystems to present a design with a high degree of integration and a nice aesthetic impression.
The system according to the present invention is defined by the independent claim 1 and further embodiments are set forth by the dependent claims 2-5. Similarly, an apparatus incorporating the system is set forth by the independent claim 6, and different embodiments of the apparatus are defined by the dependent claims 7-10.